10 minute read
ALUMNI IMPACT
Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Muyi, one of WHT’s 2021-2022 scholars suggested setting up a webinar to discuss how diplomacy, sanctions and social media impact current conflicts across the world.
Muyi Yang China, Master of Public Policy, Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann, St Edmund Hall
Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there have been lots of discussion about it on the media. Coming from many countries with diverse professional backgrounds, we, the current WHT scholars, also had many exchanges of opinions regarding this tragedy. Understandably, many provided an avenue for emotional outlet. However, sometimes the current discussion and news coverage can reinforce sentimental catharsis without elucidating more diverse perspectives from people living on the ground in both Ukraine and Russia. It is these people’s lives that are affected by the conflict.
Moreover, as the conflict is still going on at a rapid, daily changing pace, it is too early and thus exceedingly difficult to conclude something definitive for our learning. What could be illuminating, instead, is the insights and experiences from other conflicts, and how those insights can better guide us to understand what might happen later between Ukraine and Russia.
This online seminar expanded the focus of discussion to cover conflicts that happened in other parts of the world, such as those in Colombia, Yemen, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. I arranged the discussion into three sections: Diplomacy, Sanctions, and social media/Youth Empowerment. Besides the current WHT scholars, we invited over 20 alumni, many of them with diplomatic experiences working in fragile societies or conflict-ridden regions. They shared how both formal and informal diplomacies have been used to mediate between the warring parties during the wars in Colombia and Yemen.
Apart from traditional diplomatic operations, our alumni also explained how digital diplomacy is being used increasingly by the governments to complement the negotiations behind the closed doors. Our alumni provided first-hand knowledge about the plight the military actions have been inflicting on civilians, and how the histories between Russia and Ukraine failed to serve as a force to establish regional peace and harmony.
As someone who has a background in peace and conflict studies and who has worked in this field, I wholeheartedly sympathize with people who have been sadly impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. However, my experiences also taught me the importance of keeping the conversations open for mutual understanding. Name-calling, unfortunately, would not help much in bringing peace. Nor would excluding one relevant side from the dialogue and shutting doors of communication. Therefore, two alumni from Russia were invited to speak, one of whom just went there for a family visit and the other still working there. They shared with the participants what they, two common Russian citizens, have been experiencing and observing on the ground since the start of the conflict.
This session acknowledged the emotional impact of the events but went beyond the sentimental discourses and allowed us to hear personal reflections on issues that were neglected by the news coverage, such as the detrimental effect of sanctions which added to the burden of civilians and played in favour of the regimes these sanctions were designed to oppose or overthrow.
Without the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarship, I would not have met so many amazing people. Let alone host such an informative and collaborative discussion session on a pressing topic. I have learned a lot from organizing it and listening to the participants. These valuable experiences will stay with me and carry me forward in my future career wherever I will be.
Panel: Webinar Words v War
Ilan Manor
Digital diplomacy expert
Israel
Rafat Al-Akhali
Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Former Minister for Youth
Yemen
Lizaveta Trakhalina
European Bank for Reconstruction & Development
Belarus
Mastish Taddese Terefe
Associate at Thompson & Skrabanek, USA
Ethiopia
Zuzana Hlavkova
King Philanthropies. “Took part today in @whtrust_ox discussion on crises, diplomacy and sanctions. Hearing from scholars from Ukraine, Russia, China, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen and more. Pain. Loss. But also hope- the indispensable human resource. ”
Ilan Manor
Andrés Ordoñez Buitrago
Deputy Consul at the Colombia Consulate in Bilbao, Spain
Colombia
Oksana Matiyash
CEO of Teach For Ukraine Forbes 30under30 2022
Slovakia
Djeyhoun Ostowar
Diplomat and First Secretary Political Affairs at The Netherlands Embassies for Saudi Arabia and Yemen Ukraine
Andrey Panov
Counsel in Allen & Overy’s Dispute Resolution practice, Moscow
Living the Leadership Programme values
300+ alumni from 90 countries have benefited from the Leadership Programme to tackle major problems affecting the World. Over 80% currently work to benefit emerging economies, in national or multilateral organisations at the forefront of the fight against injustice, poverty, climate change and biodiversity loss, or leading social, transformative, and empowering enterprises.
Over a third of alums are professionally engaged in sustainability and development. They are all committed to finding better ways for society to interface with natural resources and empower rural and marginalised communities through economic development, social intervention and technological innovation.
Sustainability and Development
Lydia Ngonzi
Uganda, Water Scientist
Lydia is a Technical Advisor, for GIZ NatuReS, working on the role of stewardship to water-secure and economic resilient cities most recently on The Greater Kampala Water Security Action and Investment Plan. She has worked with Healthy Child Uganda, the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network, and Water Resources and Energy Management International Inc. She has been awarded the Fulbright exchange Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program 2022-23 at Cornell.
Olatunji Yusuf
Nigeria, Climate Change Specialist
Olatunji is a Senior Climate Change Specialist in the Global Practice Directorate of the Islamic Development Bank Group. He supports the Bank’s 57 member countries to implement their low carbon and climate resilient development plans as well as transition to green economy and leads on the Joint Multilateral Development Banks (jMDB) climate change working groups. Previously, he served as a project and program evaluator for development interventions, programs and country strategies financed and implemented by the Bank.
Asaf Tzachor
Israel, Global Food Security Specialist
Asaf’s work explores dependencies distortions and risks in our food systems and global agriculture. His recent research papers are essential in reshaping the global food system and covered extensively by leading international newspapers and magazines. Asaf is the Lead Researcher for Food Security and Research Associate, at the University of Cambridge and Associate Professor at the School of Sustainability in Israel. He is a World Economic Forum Expert. In 2022 he is one of TheMarker’s 40 most influential people under 40 in Israel.
Making a Visible Difference across the Globe
“I am so grateful for the support of my scholarship it completely changed the direction of my career. I am now working in the not-for-profit sector and I am using the skills gained through the Leadership Programme to support the transparency and accountability needed to achieve net zero targets especially in the Indian agricultural sector so that it is equitable and fair.” Srilekha Sridhar, India, MPP, 2014
Policy & Governance
Nearly 20% of alums are committed to inspiring and supporting better government and public policy around the world whatever their specialist field.
Quratulain Fatima
Pakistan, Civil Servant & Peace builder
Recently appointed a Pakistan Trade Diplomat Quaratulain has committed herself to long-term public service leading on the implementation of governance and development projects in a fragile country context. She has worked extensively on those that benefit women including the creation of safe spaces and computer training facilities for the low income and vulnerable women and on development policies including strengthening the database for governmental water resource. She is Co-Founder for Women4PeaceTech in Pakistan.
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh
South Africa, Political Commentor
Sizwe’s DPhil thesis became his first book, “Democracy and Delusion”, which won the City Press Tafelberg Nonfiction Award. His second book “The New Apartheid” was one of the best-selling books in SA in 2021. The popular SMWX podcast he set up in 2019 offers a journey into the heart of South Africa politics, through interviews and analysis. He is also a Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER), Johannesburg.
Kristina Mikulova
Slovakia, Policy Impact Advisor
Kristina is a Policy Advisor at the European Investment Bank. She has worked for the World Bank Group and as Head of Unit at the Ministry of Finance of Slovakia in charge of development cooperation. She joined the family of EU institutions, to advises on various policy challenges, including additionality, impact and digitalization. Her objective is to ensure that investments by public institutions always generate a positive impact for society.
Health & Education
Business & Innovation
Over 20% of alums are dedicated to addressing the global inequalities of access to health and education. WHT alumni medical professionals have worked on the front line coordinating the response to Ebola in Liberia and to Covid in South Africa as well as led significant research projects.
WHT alumni believe that business can be a force for good and – more than 15% of alumni work in business and innovation. Our scholars are encouraged to work up their own business enterprise ideas to learn essential problem-solving skills. Many of them go on to develop their own business or social enterprise.
Grace Mzumara
Malawi, Child Health Policy Researcher for the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust
Grace is passionate about improving health service delivery to women in her region and the management of and survival rates for Paediatric Non – Communicable Diseases and the Double Burden of diseases affecting Malawian children. She was recognised as a Women in Africa, Young Leader class of 2022 for her work.
Manisha Nair
India, Associate Professor/Senior Epidemiologist, University of Oxford
Manisha’s research project MaatHRI is a UK-India collaboration to translate new scientific discoveries to help prevent the c 40,000 deaths from pregnancy and childbirth related complications and the life-threatening complications suffered by 5 million pregnant women in India each year. Manisha also leads a project in Uganda to reduce mortality and improve health of preterm babies.
Simon Wanda
Kenya, Education Programme Specialist, UNESCO
Simon works on the global efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change by supporting countries in the implementation of the Education for Sustainable Development for 2030 Framework increasing the contribution of education to building a more just and sustainable world.
Idris Bello
Nigeria, ‘Afropreneur’ (entrepreneur with an African focus)
Idris is committed to supporting social enterprises that can transform lives in Africa. He is a Founding Partner at Loftyinc Capital Management, Afropreneurs Fund (I&II), and co-founder of The Wennovation Hub, an innovation platform based in Nigeria, and launched technology start-ups.
Laura Aristizabal
Colombia, Digital Skills Entrepreneur
Laura is co-founder of ProTalento, a career accelerator in the technology space and Jobtips through which she has helped more than 3K people in South America connect with the formal labor market, providing them with tools for better employability and democratizing job opportunities and study.
Law and Human Rights
Alumni use their law training as practitioners and policy-makers in a range of fields, especially human rights and help refugees and those displaced by conflict. Some alumni have themselves been forced to leave their countries most recently from Venezuela, Ukraine and Afghanistan - like Shaharzad Akbar Chairperson, for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
Nidhi Singh
India, MSc Law & Finance, 2016
Nidhi is making a significant impact on Law in India, with a focus on Anti-Trust and Competition laws. Nidhi used her voice and experience most recently at the World Economic Forum on “Why the planet needs legally binding obligations to limit climatemitigation ‘free-riders’”. In 2022 Nidhi was featured by Forbes India, as one of India’s top 100 lawyers.
Kubo Mačák
Slovakia, Law DPhil, 2013
Kubo Mačák is a Legal Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva He is the author of “Internationalized Armed Conflicts in International Law” (OUP 2018) and the General Editor of the “Cyber Law Toolkit”, an interactive online resource on the international law of cyber operations and is a core expert on the “Woomera Manual” on the International Law of Military Space Operations project. He is also Associate Professor at Exeter University Law School (on leave).
Lucia Berro Pizzarossa
Uruguay, International Human Rights Lawyer
Lucia is a researcher at the University of Georgetown developing a Strategic Litigation Programme to increase human rights literacy and redress violations with a specific focus on access to sexual and reproductive health services. She works for Women Help Women, where she previously coordinated the MAMA Project Mobilizing Activists Around Medical Abortion.
